T is for Trapped
by jennytork
Summary: Sheppard and an injured Wraith from Todd's Hive are trapped together and awaiting rescue. Told from the Wraith's POV.


**T is for Trapped**

I growled as I shifted position and my hand protested.

"Hey," Sheppard chided, turning back toward me. "You need to stay still."

"Have you heard any more?" I asked, ignoring the chiding and the pain.

"Not for awhile," he admitted. "But they know we're here and they're coming. How you doing?"

I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall. "I hunger," I admitted in turn. "And I have no way to feed."

He crouched beside me and gingerly touched my wrist. I hissed my displeasure, but he just looked at me until I subsided. Slowly, gently, he turned my wrist over and then it was the human that was hissing when he saw the damage. "So," he said in that slow, elongated way that seemed to be unique to him. "You don't just feed with the slit."

"No," I groaned. "Each fingerpad has a task in the act. It is an act of channeling, of drawing strength and power."

"Can you draw strength from other food?"

"Not permanently."

"But enough to stay alive until your people can heal you?"

"What do you care?" I snarled. "I am Wraith!"

"You are alive," he snarled back. "And you are going to stay alive until we are out of here, do you hear me? Your people expect your return, and my people are going to make sure you get there." Then his head snapped up and his hand flew to his ear. "Sheppard!" He turned toward me and smiled. "I understand. Sheppard out."

"...what was that?" I groaned.

"Here." He held out a bar, which he unwrapped and held to my mouth. "This isn't going to help you forever, but it will keep you alive for the next three hours."

"Three...hours?"

"Your people have arrived in orbit and are scanning the hill. McKay estimates it will be three hours for us to get enough debris moved away for them to find us and beam us out of here."

I blinked at him. "Our peoples...work together?"

"I know the head honcho of your hive, remember? Todd's an old friend. Hold on." He tapped his ear again. "Rodney – ask Todd if our friend here can survive on a protein bar until his hand is healed?" After a second, he said, "Okay. Friend, tell our friends what's up with your hand."

I gritted my injuries – in detail – and then I heard our commander's voice speaking from Sheppard's earpiece. _"It is repairable aboard our ship. Sheppard, we shall beam you aboard as well and then back to your people."_

"Thanks, man. So...he's starving. Can he exist on a protein bar till he's out of here?"

_"So long as it is not the passion fruit one. I think no Wraith should be forced to endure that."_

Sheppard laughed. "Relax, buddy, it's peanut butter."

_"Then it is well. Eat, with the knowledge that you will soon feed well."_

"Yes...Commander," I acknowledged.

Sheppard frowned as he cut the channel. "Feed well?"

"Rinat," I growled, and he nodded. "You know of them, then?"

"We've met," Sheppard said. "Our physician is working to reverse the sterility that plagues that race, so they can multiply easily and your people will not have to eat from mine."

I leaned back against the wall. "You would do this?"

"Todd asked the same. Look at it this way – we are eliminating a threat to our people while trying to find a way for your people to survive."

"That... I can understand... and support." I closed my eyes again.

"Hey," Sheppard said. "Here."

I opened my eyes to find the bar in front of my mouth. "Show me how."

He smiled and put one end in his mouth, biting it off and chewing. He held it out to me.

I copied his movements, and found swallowing easy. "...it will do until we are rescued."

Hours later, I was aboard my Hive and the Commander returned Sheppard to his people. My hand would heal slowly – and in the meantime, the Commander ordered my fellows to feed me.

I had survived.

**END**

**Note: The Rinat are a race I made up. They have natural lifespans of thousands of years and can survive a normal Wraith feeding with no major ill effects. They do not fear the Wraith and are well-treated by them. There are few of them, though, and Carson is working to find a way to allow them to breed easily.**


End file.
